PITTSBURGH—John Bolton suggested Friday that Barack Obama is laying the foundation to push an ambitious gun control agenda if he wins a second term.

Trying to make his background relevant to an audience of gun activists, the former ambassador to the United Nations and dark horse presidential candidate accused the administration of using its own failures in the war against Mexican drug cartels as a pretext for more gun control.

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POLITICO 44

“We can understand that, as he likes to say, he’s playing the long game, and that ‘leading from behind’ means waiting until he’s elected to a second term when he faces no further political constraints and his true agenda can come to the floor,” Bolton told thousands of gun owners at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting here. “And I believe right at the top of it is [to] increase gun control at the federal level and at the international level.”

Bolton focused much of his 11-minute speech on the collapse of order in Mexico, which he worries will continue to spill across the border like a conveyor belt. He cited estimates of 35,000 to 40,000 drug-related homicides in the last five years in Mexico, spoke of how dangerous tourist areas have become and noted recent State Department travel warnings.

“If it weren’t for our demand, the supply wouldn’t be there and the drug cartels wouldn’t be there. But the administration in as cynical a political move as I think we’ve seen in Washington in a long time –and that’s saying something–is using this crisis in Mexico and the use of drugs in our own country not to combat the illicit narcotics but to use it as a foundation to argue for stricter gun controls at the federal level in our country,” he said.

Bolton faulted the administration for having an incoherent foreign policy. He said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been more honest about the situation in Mexico.

“When they do talk about what’s happening in Mexico, our government, our White House follows the Mexican line by saying that the real problem of drug-related violence in Mexico is caused by guns that have come illegally across the U.S.-Mexican border,” he said.

“This is something that is music to the ears of the gun control advocates in this country,” he added, “because they can say, ‘See, actually, it’s our lack of gun controls, our lack of enforcement, that’s the real cause of the problem. So stiffer gun controls in the United States will solve the problem of drug violence in Mexico and prevent it from coming here.’”

Bolton argued that while some guns used by the gangs in Mexico do come from the United States, “the bulk of those guns” originated from corrupt police and military officials or were procured in the international weapons market.

I suppose this would be based on the zero comments he made in the SOTU and post-Giffords shooting address? The far white is dredging up its tired old playbook. dem Dems gonna take yer guns, blah, blah, blah..Not much of a worry, as the one tooothers shooting beer cans in their backyard with the Confederate flag in the backgound wouldnt't ever consider voting for Obama anyway. heck, would they even consider voting, period?

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED THAT GUN ISSUES ARE ALWAY SOMETHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IN THE CITIES THAT LIBERALS AND DUMBOCRAT CONTROL AND CRIME IS OUT OF CONTROL(LA, CHICAGO,NEW YORK). AND IN MORE CONSERVTIVE AREAS WHERE GUN LAWS ARE LESS THAT LIBERALS AND CROOKS SEEM TO BE NON-EXISTENCE.

@layedback lulz, you almost managed a coherent english sentence in that string of words and intermittent punctuation. Also, bravo on the incredibly clever nickname "Dumbocrat!" That's really very witty.

Interesting how violent crime decreased precipitously under Mayor 9/11 with NYC's strict gun control laws. But naturally you automatically win the argument every time, LayedBack, when you capitalize every letter.

"Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." (James Madison, The Federalist Papers #46 at 243-244)

"the ultimate authority ... resides in the people alone," (James Madison, author of the Bill of Rights, in Federalist Paper #46.)

"Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American... The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state government, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people" (Tench Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788)

"The Constitution shall never be construed....to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms" (Samuel Adams, Debates and Proceedings in the Convention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 86-87)

"The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." -- (Thomas Jefferson)

And my personal favorite.... "Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the American people's liberty teeth and keystone under independence ... From the hour the Pilgrims landed, to the present day, events, occurrences, and tendencies prove that to insure peace, security and happiness, the rifle and pistol are equally indispensable . . . the very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that is good" (George Washington)

It must be great to get paid to dress up and lie to large groups of people like that. Is stricter gun control somewhere on the Obama administrations list of things to do? Very possibly. Is it ahead of unemployment, energy, the deficit, health care, and those annoying foreign wars? Not a chance. But Bolton knows that his audience will drink any Kool-Aid they're given, so long as it's fear-flavored...

Obama may try--actually he purportedly told Jim and Sarah Brady in a March 30 meeting at the White House that he was working on gun control measures but "under the radar" [read: opaque sneak-attack on the Constitution]--but he and his thugs will not prevail in emasculating the Second Amendment.

In fact, Obama and his thugocracy comprise the current domestic reason we need to vigorously and fully protect the Second Amendment.

Some very predictable responses here to Bolton's insightful remarks, name-calling, character assassination, "what about George Bush?", everything but addressing the very real danger of losing our individual freedoms. The 2nd Amendment is what puts teeth in the Constitution, without it our ongoing slide toward global governance and the inevitable tyranny that follows would be greatly accelerated.

This isn't a "one side versus the other" type of issue. Freedom and liberty are equally important to all Americans, no matter their political leanings. If you want to surrender your freedoms, fine. There are plenty of countries around the world where personal liberty is just a dream except for the ruling elite. Go there.

But don't force patriotic, freedom loving Americans to go with you on this suicidal path. There are many naturalized Americans who gave up everything to come here on the slimmest chance of participating in the freedom that many Americans take for granted as our birthright.

I haven't seen anybody risking their lives to get IN to Cuba, or Venezuela, or North Korea lately. The type of gun control in these places is exactly what Obama would like to see here. Ask Sarah Brady.

Some very predictable responses here to Bolton's insightful remarks, name-calling, character assassination, "what about George Bush?", everything but addressing the very real danger of losing our individual freedoms.

NYC had strict gun control well before Guliani became Mayor. Since the early 1990s violent crime has fallen by more than 1/3 in the US in places both with and without strict gun control. If you would read Freakeconomics, the authors discuss the puzzling drop in crime since 1993. Gun Control has absolutely 0% to do with the decline. More policing, longer and stricter sentencing and finally Roe V Wade, Welfare Reform were the main reasons crime has fallen so much in the last 15-20 years.